The Butterfly
"ARE YOU PREPARED TO SUFFER TO SAVE YOUR SON?" - The Butterfly figure The Butterfly Trial is the second of the five trials Ethan must complete in order to save Shaun. The Trial Ethan arrives at the abandoned Pico power station, his wounds from the Bear have been tended by Madison Paige in First Encounter. He finds a way into the power station following images of a butterfly painted on the building, or enters through a hole in the fence to the left of his car. He finds a hatch and after opening it finds a long narrow tunnel that is just barely big enough for an adult male to crawl through. At the beginning of the tunnel lies a matchbox. Ethan takes the matches and lights one, using it to examine the tunnel. Finally, he climbs in and crawls into the darkness. A few feet in, the hatch shuts behind Ethan, and he begins to have second thoughts. He keeps crawling, until something cuts his arm. He looks down realizes he is facing a carpet of hundreds of pieces of broken glass through the length of the rest of the tunnel. The player must try to move slowly in order to keep the pain at a minimum. If at any time the player's pain gauge (shown by a red, pulsating aura surrounding the screen) reaches a maximum, Ethan passes out and is shown exiting the tunnel and failing the trial. Should this occur he gasps an apology to Shaun and the chapter ends. If the player successfully continues, using the matches in order to find the direction of fresh air, he will eventually arrive in a small room. At one point in the tunnel the body of a dead man can be seen. The body looks intact, as if the man had been there recently attempting the trial, but failed (it is speculated that this man is likely the father of Jeremy Bowles, as he was the most recent victim of the killer, or Alan Winter, Lauren's missing husband). When Ethan escapes the glass tunnel, he finds another tunnel. This one is even smaller, Ethan gets in and slides down it at a dangerous speed until he is dumped out of it on to a ledge above live electrical condensers filling a large room in a grid. The player can now choose to walk out of a door labeled "Coward", quitting the challenge and failing to retrieve the second set of letters, or they can begin moving through the electrical condensers. If Ethan is shocked too much, indicated by the same pain gauge as in the tunnel, Ethan will give up and leave through the Coward Door. If Ethan makes it to the other side, he receives another chip for his phone. It adds more letters and shows another video of Shaun. Ethan walks out, finishing the Butterfly Trial and heading to the motel for the third trial. Walkthrough To complete the trial, look at the conductor layout as a 4X5 grid. Start from the grid that is second from the right. Go up once to the next grid, and then to the left to the grid beside this one. From there, you can continue straight up through the last three grids to your reward. Naming The origami references the fragility of Butterflies and how they can be easily injured. Insects are also known to travel toward bright lights. In some cultures, butterflies are believed to be the souls of the dead passing onto heaven, similar to how Ethan must go through these fiendishly difficult trials for his son's salvation. Another reason this chapter may be named the butterfly is how Ethan must crawl through a narrow tunnel, resembling a butterfly's ability to move through very narrow situations (and how butterfly's would be able to easily go through the electrical condensers). Or it could just be due to the fact that the origami figure for the trial is a butterfly. Impact *Failure: Ethan will not get the second set of letters, which means he will always have to guess the correct location at the conclusion of the final trial or he can depend on Madison to tell him the location. *Completion of trial: Ethan will get some of the letters. Trivia *It is possible that the body found in this chapter is the body of Susan Bowles' husband, and the father of Jeremy Bowles, the Origami Killer's most recent victim. The man may have attempted the trials in a plight to rescue his son, but failed and passed away. It could also be Alan Winter, Lauren Winter's missing husband. *It is impossible for Ethan to die during this trial. However, any normal person would probably be dead before they got to the electric condensers due to shock and blood loss. Additionally, it is likely that the shocks from the condensers would be enough to cause heart failure. *It is unknown how The Origami Killer put the glass in the tunnel. There is one known entrance and one exit, although the Killer couldn't have exited through the actual exit, as it most likely would have fallen to its death. If not, it could have dropped down without injury, and used the door marked "Coward!" to get out. *It should also be noted that the killer is quite large and bulky, which would make it difficult and/or painful for him to lay out the glass/electricity. *It is unknown why Ethan didn't use his sweater to cover his hands and arms (possibly the tunnel restricted his movements) or alternately use his hands and forearms to make a 'spear' or a 'boat' shape to shove the glass aside as these tactics may have limited his injuries. Butterfly, The Butterfly, The Butterfly, The Category:Ethan Mars Chapters